Apparatus for the handling of live fish and fish fry and use of the apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for separate handling of live fish including a plurality of holders placed radially on a turntable mounted on a stainless steel table on which is also mounted a basin for the fish, with a chute and a vaccination apparatus and a control cabinet. By rotating the turntable, a fish in each holder is moved to various positions, with the bottom of each holder being openable so that the fish may be released and, through an outlet tube, be guided to a basin with water.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus for separate handling of live fishand fish fry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In industrial fish production in basins, pools or marine fish farms withbasins formed by nets, the need arises on certain occasions to handlethe fish separately, e.g. in connection with vaccination of fish or bysorting according to size or sex.

The apparatus according to the invention will be explained in connectionwith the vaccination of fish, but it may also be used in the sorting offish or fish fry, also simultaneously with a vaccination of the fish.

Today fish or fish fry are vaccinated in two ways. The fish may bevaccinated separately by an automatic manual vaccination apparatus, butthis is a physically taxing job as the fish at the same time must beheld manually and vaccinated in a certain spot. During this operationthe gills or scales of the fish may easily be damaged if the fish isheld too tightly, or the vaccination may be effected imprecisely. Fishor fish fry may also be vaccinated in a basin by dosing the vaccinedirectly into the water, but this method results in a great inaccuracyconcerning how large a dose the individual fish receives. Furthermore,the drainage water will be polluted by surplus vaccine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to describe an apparatus for separate andmechanical handling of live fish and fish fry in such a way that thefish are always held in a definite position in the apparatus and alsonot held for longer than necessary for vaccination or for measurementsof the fish.

In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus for separatehandling of live fish and fish fry is provided with the apparatusincluding a plurality of holders mounted on a common transport adaptedto move the holders sequentially between the plurality of positions.Means are provided for enabling a separate introduction of the fish orfish fry into the respective holders with a further means being providedfor detecting a presence of fish in the holder. Each of the holderscomprises at least two mutually movable parts arranged so as to grip thefish placed in a vertical position with a tail of the fish pointing inan upward direction. Each of the holders includes means for releasingthe fish, and the common transport includes a turntable on which theholders are supported on radial arms including positioning means for themovable parts of the holders. The positioning means are constructed insuch a manner that the positioning takes placed in dependence upon anangular position of the turntable. One of the movable parts of theholder includes a bottom portion which is hinged to a bottom edge of themovable part.

By virtue of the above noted features of the present invention, the fishare guided separately to a holder and, as soon as the systemautomatically detects that a fish is correctly placed in the holder, theholder is moved to one or more positions in the apparatus. Furthermore,the fish is released and glides through an outlet tube down into a basinfilled with water. The apparatus makes mechanical handling of live fishpossible in such a manner that fish passing the apparatus are eachpositioned in the same manner in a respective holder.

In accordance with further features of the present invention, theapparatus further includes at least one outlet tube disposed at least atone of a plurality of positions into which the holders are moved, withthe outlet tubes being placed under bottoms of the holders, and witheach outlet tube comprising a cover adapted to be positioned by a workcylinder. The bottom and the cover are provided with means adapted tointeract with each other so that the bottom is operated in a downwarddirection.

In accordance with still further features of the present invention, avaccination apparatus, preferably, an automatic vaccination apparatus,is disposed opposite at least one of the plurality of positions intowhich the holders are moved. A control circuit controls the vaccinationapparatus and remaining functions of the apparatus. The vaccinationapparatus includes a means for cleaning the hypodermic needle as well asa means for disinfecting the hypodermic needle. Moreover, at least onewater pipe is arranged so as to spray the respective holders with waterat least at one of the plurality of positions of the holders.

By virtue of the features of the present invention, it is possible, forexample, to ensure a completely correct vaccination because the holderis stopped for a short time while the vaccination takes place. Thespraying with water ensures that the fish are not damaged by passing theapparatus and, in practice, the fish only stay for a few seconds in theapparatus before they are again back in a basin filled with water.

In accordance with yet further features of the present invention, eachholder includes exchangeable soft plastic linings having a smooth andsoft surface. By virtue of the construction of the holder in thisfashion, it is possible for the holder to grip the fish carefullywithout damaging the fish in any manner. The linings are exchangeable,partly so that they may be exchanged if they are damaged or worn on thesides turned toward the fish and partly to diminish a possible danger ofcontamination. The linings are, of course, designed so that they may becleaned and disinfected.

Additionally, by virtue of the provision of the turntable in accordancewith the present invention, a simple and more dependable apparatus isachieved in which the holders may more quickly be shifted to theindividual position so that the fish only need stay in the apparatus fora very short time. Furthermore, it is possible to achieve a very precisecontrol of the apparatus.

Moreover, by providing that one of the movable parts of the holderincludes a bottom which is hinged to the bottom edge of the part, whichbottom contacts a table top or a portion thereof which is arrangedtiltably with respect to a chute which guides the fish separately to theholder, and by providing at least one outlet tube which is placed atleast at one of the particular positions in which the holders are moved,which outlet tubes are placed under the bottoms of the holders, witheach tube comprising a cover which may be positioned by a work cylinder,and providing interacting means between the bottom and the coverenabling the bottom to be opened downwardly, the fish may be extractedfrom the holders in a very simple manner. In this connection, asimultaneous opening of the bottom and an opening of the holder takesplace so that the fish may fall freely through the open bottom of theholder through the outlet tube and into the water basin. By making thetable or a portion of the table tiltable, it may be adjusted withrespect to the chute which guides the fish separately to the holderswhereby the fish easily slide into the right place in the holders. Theangle of tilt of the table depends upon, among other things, the size ofthe fish.

In accordance with still further features of the present invention, afurther apparatus may be placed in opposition to at least one of thepositions into which the holders are moved, with such further apparatusbeing, for example, a vaccination apparatus, preferably, an automaticvaccination apparatus. A control circuit may be provided for controllingthe automatic vaccination apparatus, with such control circuit alsocontrolling the remaining functions of the apparatus. The vaccinationapparatus includes a means for cleaning a hypodermic needle as well as ameans for disinfecting such needle. As can readily be appreciated, theadditional apparatus may also be an apparatus for measuring a size ofthe fish or other qualities thereof, and the apparatus may subsequentlysort the fish, for example, by virtue of the provision of a plurality ofindividual outlet tubes.

The apparatus of the present invention may also comprise a basin for thefish with at least one chute correctly orienting the fish or fish frydown into the holders of the apparatus.

With an apparatus such as proposed by the present invention, it may, forexample, be possible to vaccinate up to over 5,000 fish per hour, thatis, in such a way that all fish are correctly vaccinated both as regardsto dose of vaccination and which is very important, so that thevaccination of all fish is correctly carried out, usually immediately infront of the pelvic fin.

Furthermore, the handling of the fish is gentle, even at the great speedof handling, and completely without damage to scales or gills and thefish are out of water for a very small period of time

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is further explained in the following descriptionwith reference to a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view, on an enlarged scale, of a holder of the apparatusof the present invention in an open state;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the holder of FIG. 2 together with an apparatusfor vaccination;

FIG. 4 is a view of a holder as seen in a radial direction and with apartially opened bottom plate; and

FIG. 5 is a view of the holder of FIG. 4 as seen from the other sidewith a closed bottom plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the various views to designate like parts and, moreparticularly, to FIG. 1, according to this figure, an apparatus forseparate handling of live fish and fish fry is mounted on a table 15with a planar top, with the table 15 being, preferably, made ofstainless steel. The apparatus is constructed to vaccinate fish whichare simultaneously sorted into breeding fish and non-breeding fish.

The fish are manually lifted from a basin 7 which contains water so thatthe fish may stay there until they are guided through the apparatus forvaccination. The fish are manually guided, one at a time, to a chute 8and turned with the nose of the fist pointed toward an outlet of thechute 8 and with a dorsal fin pointed toward the operator standing infront of the table at the chute.

The fish will hereafter glide by themselves down into the firstholder 1. The shown embodiment has six holders 1-6 mounted on aturntable 19 by radial arms 21. It is obvious to an expert in the fieldthat the holders might also have been mounted on a conveyor chain or onanother means of transport, and that the use of a turntable is only anexample of how the invention may be implemented in practice. The holderswill be explained in the following with reference to FIGS. 2-5.

When a fish is in its place in the holder, i.e. with the tail pointingupwards, the sensor 12, which may be a photo cell arrangement which may"look" into the holder 1 through slots 13, gives a signal for the startof the turntable 19. At the start of the turntable 19 the holder 1 isclosed, and the inner surfaces 20 of the holder, which consist of softlinings, are pressed gently against the sides of the fish and hold it.

If the fish, for example, is non-breeding, the contact 9 is activated,after which the apparatus will discharge the non-breeding fish andbreeding fish through different outlet tubes so that they are sortedinto breeding fish and non-breeding fish after the vaccination.

All of the turntable is turned one sixth of a revolution until theholder 1 is placed at the position of the holder 2 opposite thevaccination apparatus 14. After the vaccination, the turntable is turnedfurther, while, simultaneously with the vaccination, the next fish isguided down into the holder 6, which is now placed in the position ofthe holder 1 in FIG. 1. Exit openings, which are controlled by thecontrol system of the apparatus, may be arranged in the top of the table15 under the positions of the holders 4 and 5. The control system ismounted in a control cabinet 16. The opening and closing of the exitopenings, explained more fully hereinbelow, is effected in dependenceupon, among other things, whether the control switch 9 is activated ornot.

Water hoses 10 with nozzles are placed at all stop positions so that thefish may be sprayed and kept wet.

A compressed air control unit 18 is placed under the table and anemergency stop switch 17 for stopping the apparatus is placed at theposition of the operator.

A stopping device 11 may be placed on the table top, which device, forexample, may be pneumatically raisable and lowerable and controlled bythe control circuit in the the control cabinet, so that the turntablemay be brought to a halt in a completely well defined position. Thestopping device 11 is shown in FIG. 1 as placed at the position of theholder 1 solely for the sake of clearness of understanding. In practiceit may be placed at the stop position at which it is most important thatthe turntable stops precisely, which in the present example will beopposite the vaccination apparatus 14.

The electric control system in the control cabinet 16 will normallycomprise a PCL, necessary operation keys, fish counters, start and stopswitches etc. The counting system may normally be designed so that itcounts the number of fish vaccinated and the number thereof in breed andnot in breed. The counting system may naturally be adjusted to zero andmay further be designed for various uses.

In FIG. 1 the table 15 is shown horizontal and planar. In practice ithas turned out to be advantageous if at least a part of the table marked15' may be tilted around the side edge 15" so that all of the turntable19 and the vaccination unit is tilted too. Hereby the tilt of theturntable 19 may be adjusted so that the fish may more easily slidecorrectly from the chute 8 down into the respective holders 1-6. Thepart 15' of the table 15 may be tilted between 0° and 90°, andexperiments have proved that the part of the table 15' is advantageouslytilted from 40° to 65° depending on the size of the fish. Hereby theaction upon the fish is minimized while at the same time the speed bywhich the fish are guided into the holders is maximized.

In FIG. 2 one of the holders 1-6 is shown from above. Each holder 1-6includes two side plates 25 of which one supports the curved front plate24 and a bottom plate 26 which is connected by hinges to the side plateat the lower left side. The side plates 25 are positioned by apositioning arm 22 engageable with a lazy-tongs mechanism in the radialarms 21. The positioning arm 22 ends in a roll which is guided by acurved disk 23. The disk 23 hereby determines the adjustment of the sideplates 25, for example, the extent of opening of the respective holders.The closing power, which determines how strongly the sides may squeezethe fish, is determined by a spring 34.

Two replaceable linings 20 are placed in each holder, with the liningsbeing molded from polyurethane with a soft even surface. The linings 20are molded into such a shape that they will only squeeze the fishlightly and the soft even surface guarantees that gills and scales ofthe fish are not damaged. A rubber membrane 35 is attached between thelinings 20 so that the fish under no circumstances will contact theactivating mechanisms.

FIG. 3 shows a holder during the vaccination procedure of a fish whichis indicated by a dotted line. The vaccination apparatus 14 is providedwith compressed air via a hose 27 and vaccine via a hose 28. Thevaccination apparatus is activated when the radial arm of the of theholder abuts against the stopping means 11, and the holder will now bein the correct position opposite the vaccination apparatus 14. Afterthis, a cylinder in the vaccination apparatus will be activated and thehypodermic needle inserted in the fish through one of the slits 13 inthe holder. A further cylinder activates the syringe whereafter thecylinders are returned to their original positions and the apparatus isready for the next vaccination. At each vaccination the needle isinserted through two disk shaped parts 36 and 37. The part 36 is aplastic or rubber membrane which cleans the needle, and the part 37 maybe, for example, a felt disk which is continuously provided withmethylated spirits so that the needle is disinfected whereby thepossibility of transfer of contagious infection from a diseased fish toa succeeding fish is eliminated. After this the stopping means 11 islowered pneumatically and the turntable 19 is moved on.

The discharging of the fish from holders 1-6 will be explained withreference to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings, in which FIG. 5 shows theholder in FIG. 4 as seen from the right, but with the bottom flapclosed. FIG. 4 shows that each holder has a bottom flap 26 which ishinged to the bottom edge of one of the sides of the holder. The part15' of the table top 15 is provided with a hinged cover 29 which, by anactivating cylinder 30 or in some other way, may open and close theaccess to an outlet tube 33. The discharge system may also be designedthe other way around, that is, by merely providing a sufficiently largeopening in the plate 15' so that the bottom flap 26 is turned upwards assoon as it passes over the opening. An arm may be placed at theterminating edge of the opening as seen in the direction of revolutionof the turntable 19, which arm closes the bottom flap before it reachesthe terminating edge of the opening. In this embodiment the bottom flapsystem will function substantially faster because there is no need foran activating cylinder for opening and closing the bottom flap 26 via acover 29. The supporting means 31 will be replaced by a roll or the likewhich bears against the plate 15' when the bottom flap 26 is closed.

The bottom flap 26 of the holder is kept closed by a downwardly turnedsupporting means 31 which bears against the plate 15'. The supportingmeans 31 is provided with a friction-reducing coating because it willslide on the plate 15' when the turntable 19 is moved. A gripping means32 is placed on the cover 29 which is hinged to the plate 15' whichgripping means may catch the supporting means 31 if the bottom of theholder is to be opened as shown in FIG. 4.

The apparatus may be employed directly or be adjusted for fish ofdifferent sizes and shapes. The special configuration of the linings 20and their simultaneous movement towards or away from each other willresult in each fish sliding down into the holder in the correct positionbeing held in such a manner that its vertical centerline will always beplaced in the same way so that the hypodermic needle will always hitcorrectly. Furthermore, the vaccination apparatus 14 is adjustable inheight and each holder has a number of slits 13 in the curved frontplate 24.

The apparatus shown in the drawings with six holders may vaccinate up to2500 fish an hour of fish of the sizes 7 g-3.0 kg depending on the sizeand design of the grippers.

It is also possible to arrange twelve grippers on the turntable. If twochutes 8 are employed in connection with a turntable of this type forthe supply of fish, it will be possible to double the number of fishwhich are vaccinated per hour, for example, about 5300 fish per hour. Inan apparatus of this kind the curved front plates 24 may be replaced bya circumferential plate which, by additional arms is secured to theturntable. The slits 13 for the photo cell arrangement and the needle ofthe vaccination apparatus will in this embodiment be placed in thecircumferential plate.

We claim:
 1. Apparatus for separate handling of live fish and fish fry,the apparatus comprising a plurality of holders mounted on a commontransport adapted to move the holders sequentially between a pluralityof positions, means for enabling a separate introduction of the fish orthe fish fry into the respective holders, means for detecting a presenceof fish in the holder, each of said holders comprises at least twomutually movable parts arranged so as to grip fish placed in a verticalposition and with a tail of the fish pointing in an upward direction,each of said holders including means for releasing the fish wherein saidcommon transport includes a turntable on which the holders are supportedon radial arms which comprise positioning means for the movable parts ofthe holders, said positioning means being constructed in such a mannerthat positioning takes place in dependence upon an angular position ofthe turntable, and wherein one of the movable parts of the holderincludes a bottom hinged to a bottom edge of the movable part. 2.Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one outlettube disposed at least at one of the plurality of positions into whichthe holders are moved, said at least one outlet tube being placed onbottoms of the holders, each outlet tube comprises a cover adapted to bepositioned by a work cylinder, and wherein the bottom and the cover areprovided with means adapted to interact with each other so that thebottom is opened in a downward direction.
 3. Apparatus according to oneof claims 1 or 2, further comprising a vaccination apparatus disposedopposite at least one of the plurality of positions into which theholders are moved, a control circuit for controlling the vaccinationapparatus and remaining functions of the apparatus, and wherein thevaccination apparatus comprising means for cleaning a hypodermic needleof the vaccination apparatus and means for disinfecting the hypodermicneedle.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising at leastone water pipe arranged so as to spray the respective holders with waterat least at one of said plurality of positions of the holders. 5.Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the turntable is placed on atabletop or a part, and wherein at least a portion of the tabletop istiltable with respect to said means for enabling separate introductionof the fish into the respective holders.
 6. Apparatus according to claim5, wherein each holder comprises exchangeable soft plastic lining havinga smooth and soft surface.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 6 furthercomprising a basin for the fish, and wherein said means for enablingseparate introduction of the fish or fish fry include at least one chutefrom which correctly oriented fish or fish fry are guided down into therespective holders.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein saidmeans for enabling separate introduction of the fish includes a chutefor guiding the fish into the respective holders.
 9. Apparatus accordingto one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising at least one water pipearranged so as to spray the respective holders with water at least atone of said plurality of positions of the holders.
 10. Apparatusaccording to one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the turntable is placed on atabletop and wherein at least a portion of the tabletop is tiltable withrespect to said means for enabling introduction of the fish into therespective holders.
 11. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 or 2,wherein each holder comprises exchangeable soft plastic linings having asmooth and soft surface.
 12. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 or2, further comprising a basin for the fish, and wherein said means forenabling separate introduction of the fish or fish fray includes atleast one chute from which correctly oriented fish or fish fry areguided into the respective holders.
 13. Apparatus according to one ofclaims 1 or 2, wherein the turntable is placed on a tabletop which istiltable with respect to said means for enabling a separate introductionof the fish.